Saturday, November 8, 2008

There are two things I would like to share with you in the space I have available - a myeLearning of NE update and the ESU annual Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship Contest.

myeLearning of NE, the organization that brings you ANGEL, has created a new community group called "The Nebraska Community of Shared Content (NCSC)." This statewide community group will host vendor-based course content that will range from complete, pre-designed courses to individual course objects. Districts will be able to utilize this group to enhance their current online course content to begin an online content program. Curriculum content from this community group may also be used to enhance a district's face-to-face curriculum. The first vendor to be housed inside this community group is the National Repository of Online Content (NROC). For now, the content areas that are inside this community group are Math, Science, and Social Studies. Altogether, there are thirty-four courses available for implementation. If your district is a subscriber to ANGEL, there is no cost to get this "value-added" service and you should have received some documentation outlining the steps to enroll in this community group. If you would like to see how this works, please let us know and we'd be happy to show you around the "Nebraska Community for Shared Content".

Secondly, the annual ESU Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship contest has officially kicked off. Every year, the ESU's, in partnership, with the Nebraska Attorney General's office, sponsor an Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship Poster and Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest for students in K-12 schools across Nebraska. All entries (for ESU 4 schools) must be submitted to ESU 4 by March 16, 2009. A winning entry in each category will be selected and sent on to the Attorney General's office for special recognition.

Having trouble getting Quicktime movie files to play within Windows Movie-Maker or vice versa? Zamzar is a great online resource for converting many types of files including document, image, music, and video files. There is no application to download as this is an online tool, and best of all, it is free for converting up to 100 meg files! Simply go to zamzar.com in your web browser and follow the four simple steps. You can either browse out to your computer to choose the file you want to convert or type in the Internet address of a file online. Next, select the type of file you need your file converted to. Be sure to read the “Conversion types” page on the site to make sure you know what file type your file can be converted to successfully. And, as always when working with a digital camera, camcorder, mp3 player, etc., check your hardware manual for suggested troubleshooting tips.

Any comments, suggestions, or questions can be directed to me (grobke at esu4.org) or to Kim (krobke at esu4.org).